Get back on the horse
by CercandoUnaVoce
Summary: Sequel to my previous story 'Not alone'. As the S.W.A.T. family tries to help Street recover from his trauma, he decides to go visit his mother in jail. After all, what can go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Over the last few weeks, nighttime has been the hardest time to overcome for Street.

Being all alone in the darkness reminded him of the endless hours spent in his cold, humid prison, only waiting for something bad to happen.

The sinister rumors of the night that broke the deafening silence of his room, made him feel like someone was coming for him.  
But who? Could it be his captor, there to torture him again? Or could it be his team, there to finally save him?  
He didn't know.  
He couldn't know.

It was not the physical torture that he was afraid of.  
No.  
It was not knowing. It was the vain hope, the delusion he had every time that damn door opened, and the worst possible outcome revealed right before his eyes.  
It was not being his own master.

Most of the times, all these thoughts prevented him to sleep. He needed to remain vigilant, not wanting to lose control of the situation again. And even the times that exhaustion had the best of him, and he had to close his eyes, won by the overtiredness, all he could see were the ghosts of his past experiences.

This time Street found himself in the full dark, feeling multiple hands on his bare skin.  
He tried to oppose, but he couldn't move.  
"Stop!" he was completely paralyzed. "Leave me alone!"

He started feeling cold from deep inside, from his bones to his heart, and the chills pervaded his whole body.

He woke up at a sudden, all sweat and shaking like a wet chick.  
"Ahg..." He tried to move into a sitting position, but he felt a sharp pain in his chest, as his ribs weren't properly healed yet.

"A bad dream," he kept muttering to himself. "It was just a bed dream!"

He painfully reached out to turn the light on, then he laid back for a few seconds.  
He tried to normalize his breathing to take his heartbeat down.  
His heart was weakened by the electrical shocks he had to face before, and it had not fully recovered yet. And now it was pumping so hard that he could almost hear its sound.

"I'm home," he muttered, still breathing soundly, and focusing on the object in his bedroom.  
"I'm home... I'm safe."He kept frenetically looking around.

He gradually got up, and slowly reached the door with his legs barely obeying his will.  
He stood by the door, not able to firmly grab the doorknob.  
He forced his body to take in a deep breath, then got out of his room, and directed to the sink.

"Hey man!" Luca paused his video game. "Sorry, was the TV volume to high?" His voice reached Street's ears, but not his brain.  
"Did I awake you?"

"Uh?" He absently looked at him.

"You okay?" Luca kept asking concerned, and got up from the couch.

"Yeah... yeah I'm, I'm fine," he sighed.  
"Just needed some water," he distantly added, taking a glass in his trembling hand.

Street reached the sink, and opened the tap.  
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even noticed when the glass was full, and the water started dripping out.

Luca reached him, and abruptly closed the tap, as the water was spilling everywhere.  
At that sudden movement by his friend, Street crushed the glass in his hand, and small pieces and blood drops covered their feet.

"I'm..." Street awakened from his daydream. "I'm sorry..."

He was extremely disoriented, feeling like a little boy again.  
'Please, don't punish me,' was the first thing that passed through his mind at that moment, even before acknowledging he injured himself.

"It's okay," Luca gave Street a towel to cover the cut in his hand, and stop the bleeding.  
"Stay there, I got this." He stepped aside, carefully avoiding to walk bare feet on the pieces of glass scattered on the ground.

He grabbed the brush, but when he turned back to clean the floor, , he noticed his teammate was barely standing there, pale and all covered in cold sweat.

"Alright, why don't you you sit down for a moment," Luca quickly cleaned the way for Street to reach a chair.

"I-I can't... I-I need some air." Street rushed out the apartment, without even looking at his friend.

"Wait!" Luca immediately put his pants on, and grabbed a sweater, then he quickly went out after him.

 **...**

Luca got out of the apartment, and quickly looked around.  
He found Street heavily breathing, sat on the sidewalk.

"Hey," he noticed how hardly his friend was shaking, "Take this," he put his sweater on his friend's shoulders.

"Thanks," Street forced his voice out, as Luca settled near him, silent.

"I'm sorry," Street was staring at his bandaged hand.  
"I was getting claustrophobic in there."

"Don't worry, it's only your second night home," Luca put a hand on his friend's back.

The young cop winched, instinctively retracting from his mate's touch, starting again to shake hardly.

"Okay, okay... be patient." Luca took his hand back, heartbroken to see him reacting like this.  
"It will go better soon, you'll see."

"Yeah..." Street's was looking at the void, completely lost.

"Waking up screaming like a little child..." he sniffed. "You must think I'm ridiculous."

"Are you kidding me?" Luca looked straight at him. "After all you went through? This is the most normal reaction you can have," he used the most reassuring tone he could.

"Look," he continued, "I know that at the hospital you were used to all those cute nurses taking care of you, and that right know you are stack here with me only," he smiled, "But it's why I am here for, keep that in mind."

"I thought you were here because your ex girlfriend kicked you out from your own apartment..." he looked up, smirking.

"Yeah... that too!" he laughed.

"Let's get back in now, you ready?"

"Just one more minute..." Street looked up to him again, with his eyes asking louder than his voice.

"Of course," Luca got up, patiently waiting for him.

"Hey, we still have that Call of Duty campaign to finish, you remember?"

"Yeah, sorry, I...I don't think I would be able to even hold the joystick right now." Street got up, showing his friend his bloody hand.

"Right." Luca tried to hide his concern. "I almost forgot...  
"You know, I was going to turn the play-station off anyway. Man, it's 3 o'clock in the morning, some of us has to go to work tomorrow!"

They got back in, and Street went strictly toward his bedroom.

In all his life he had always slept with the door well locked.  
He surely couldn't be the boy who asks his parents to sleep with them, and even if sometimes was his mother that asked him to sleep in his bed, that weren't the most comfortable or safe conditions for him.  
And every time he was in a new foster home, the thought of someone he barely knew could watch him sleep, or worst, could come in, and do who knows what, was enough to prevent him to rest well for the first few days.

Loneliness has always been the price to distrust, a price he was used to pay. But this time it was different. This time, on the other side of the door, there was someone who really cared about him.

"Do you mind..." Street stopped on his bedroom doorway.  
"Um, don't bother," he fatigued to look at his friend. "It's too stupid..."

"Come on, go ahead." Luca encouraged him.

"Do you mind if I leave my door open?" He cleared his voice, "Just for tonight..." he was so ashamed to ask, but he couldn't help.

"If you don't mind to hear me snoring, yes, why not?" Luca reassured him, with a big warm smile. He knew how much it must cost Street to make that request, and of course he couldn't deny him his full support.

 **...**

The night passed slowly as Street didn't really wanted to close his eyes.  
Eventually, at a certain point exhaustion must get to him, because when he reopened his eyes the morning light was coming thought his open door.

He got up, with his whole body still aching, constantly reminding him of what happened to him.

"Hey!" Luca got out half naked from the bathroom. "You shouldn't be up this early."

Street was walking toward the fridge zombie-like.  
"I've been in hospital for 3 weeks, give me some peace, would you?" he heavily sat near the table, with a bottle of milk in his hand.

"I've a little time before shift starts, do you want some breakfast?" Luca said, putting his t-shirt on.

"Oh..." Street looked at him, "You really don't need..."

"Sorry, my bad, it wasn't supposed to be a question," Luca interrupted him. "I'm cooking breakfast for both of us."

"Okay, as you wish," Street surrendered. "But I need to go get dressed in the meantime."

"Dressed for what?" Luca looked at him puzzled, "You are still supposed to be on bed rest!"

"Yeah, I know, but I have to see my mom later."

"Your mom?" Luca stared at him, "In jail?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, It's where she is right now..." He got up, and went toward the bathroom. "It's not like she could visit me at the hospital, you know..."

"Yeah, ok. But you can wait at least a couple of days, till you stop moving around like a walking dead. Can't you?"

"Funny... But she is my mother, and she needs to see me now, so... I'm going."

"Alright, do you need a ride there?"

"No, thank you... Um, actually..." Street voice sounded from the other room, "Grace is driving me..."

"Grace? That Grace?" Luca couldn't get a break from all those unexpected news.

"Yes, who other?" he sneaked his head out.

"Are you dating her or something now?"

"I'm not! She's like a sister to me, always have been...  
"I think she is just trying to make amend to me."

"If you say so..." Luca started eating.  
"Your breakfast's ready, come here." He muttered with his mouth full.

"So," Luca chomped, "Is she going in with you, to know your mom?" he added as his friend approached.

"Hell no! She will wait me outside," Street sat next to him. "You know, my mother wouldn't' understand what happened, and what she did..."

"Know what?" Luca chomped. "I wouldn't really blame her for that this time."

"Just eat you breakfast, you're running late."

 **...**

A few minutes after Luca left for work, Grace arrived at Street's apartment, and knocked on his door.

"Hi," Street opened the door. "Let me grab my keys, and I'm ready to go." He greeted her.

"Hey, how...how are you doing?" She noticed he still couldn't move around very easily.

"Don't worry, I'm totally fine," he smiled, putting his arm to his chest.  
"What about you?" they headed to her car.

"Fine." she hurried back, "I mean, I'm starting that new job, and... Yeah, I, I'm... fine," she whispered.

"Hey," he stopped her before getting in the car, making her face him. "Hey, It's me, I was there, okay?"

She looked straight at him, desperately trying to not let the tears go.

"I know what's like: sleeping is hard, you're afraid of every single sound you here in the distance, and even doing the simplest thing sometimes seems impossible." He took her hands. "It's gonna be better, I promise.  
"We have to believe that."

"Yeah... thanks. We... we shell go now," she jumped in the car, and started the engine.

Street soundly exhaled, and slowly got in with her.

The whole ride to the state correctional was silent and even a bit awkward.  
Grace was still shocked, and Street was feeling guilty to have brought back _that_ argument so soon.

"Here you go." She stopped near the gate.

"Thanks, you..." he said, a little embarrassed. "What are you doing in the meantime?"

"Oh, don't worry for me, I have some phone calls to make, you know, new job... I'll park right there, and you, um, you take your time."

"Ok, thank you again, really." He closed the car door, and went toward the penitentiary entrance.

 **...**

Luca entered the Swat HQ, and approached Hondo in the gym.

"Hey, boss, don't tell me you spent this last two days of license like this." He chuckled.

"You know, you snooze you lose," Hondo said, tapping him on the shoulder with his boxing glove on.

Luca shook his head, smiling.

"And you? Did you spent your free day babysitting our guy, am I wrong?" Hondo continued.

"Yeah," Chris popped out from nowhere. "How this first nights at home turned out?"

"Woo, good morning to you too," Luca tried to hide the fact that she startled him.

"It went as you can expect," he sighed, "Not too much sleep, and bearing his real feelings deep down."

Hondo could feel that there was more.  
"Panic attacks?" his tone grew more concerned.

"Yeah, I mean, he tries hard to hide it from me, but... I think he had a pretty bad one just last night."

"Okay, I know we are supposed to give him some space, to recover and all those kind of things," Chris couldn't help but worry for him. "But is it safe to leave him home alone this soon?"

"You realize he is not a kid to babysit for real right?" Hondo said.

"Well, however he is not alone, and he is not home either." Luca pointed out.

"Isn't he supposed to still be on bed rest?" She looked at him anxious.

"I told him it wasn't such a good idea, but he wanted to go see his mother."

"His mother?" Hondo's tone grew more and more concerned.

"Yeah, what can I say, he is such a momma boy..."

 **...**

As soon as Karen Street saw her son getting in, she approached, and gave him a big hug.

"Ohw..." he growled as she was holding him to tight.

"I'm sorry baby, I didn't mean," she quickly retracted, carefully scanning him.  
"Let's have a sit," she lead him to the little table.

"I'm fine mom..."

"I swear to you, if I could have that man under my hands..." her terrifying look made him feel chills on his back, resurrecting the memory of _the_ _night_ when she 'took care' of his dad.

"It's ok, he is locked up now." Street tried to maintain the calm. "He is not going to be a problem anymore."

"Yeah, I know that, but I'm never gonna forgive him for what he did to you!" Karen's voice was full of rage.

"Don't do that, he is not dad." He took both her hands in his, "This is a different story, ok? You can do nothing, just forget about him, alright?"

She tried to look at him condescending, but she couldn't fully hide her anger.

"Promise me you will try, mom."

"Ok, baby. I'll try," her voice was cold and distant, but he chose to believe her, like he always did.

"You sure you're really ok?" she kept staring at him, noticing his dressed hand.

Street retracted it, and forced out a smile. He wanted to reassure her, but before he could speak, an explosion occurred, making all the presents jump from their chairs.

The gate soundly opened, and some armed guys got in, pushing a neutralized guard in front of them.

It all happened in a blink, but for Street it was an endless minute.  
His hands started to hardly shake, and his heart jumped up in his throat, with all kind of terrible thoughts going through his mind.

'Not again, please, not again!' he kept repeating to himself, tying to regain his cool, but it was all useless. He could just stood there, frozen, again not being his own master.

* * *

.

* * *

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed my opening chapter. A little more action will be present in the second one.  
I'm afraid to say that this time I won't be able to update as frequently as I did for my last multi chapter story. I'm sorry but I have too many things on my hands right now, and staying focused on a single project is hard.  
I hope to get back in a week, see you there!


	2. Chapter 2

Grace hung up her cell phone, and distantly looked out from her car, wandering how long would take for Street to be out of there.

'How can he do this? How can he be confined in that close space for all this time after...after _it..._ '

She closed her eyes for a moment, and her mind went strictly back to the image of her friend chained in the dark basement, with _the man_ hitting him. To her waiting for her turn to be beaten, or worse...

'Stop!' she quickly reopened her eyes, 'Don't go back there!'

She knew she couldn't afford that.

She was still hunted by the fear. By the choices she made. By her cowardice. By her betrayal.

'Jeez, we went through hell... **he** went through hell! How can he do this? How can he be so strong after all he had to stand?'

This time her mind went back to the hospital room. She could see him forced in bed, fatiguing to breath, fatiguing to move.  
But even then, he acted strong. He tried to hold it. He forced himself to take care of her, even after what she did.  
Since the first time she visited him he was so comforting, and so encouraging.  
He was there for her, despite the pain, despite the fear.  
He was kind despite everything.

'I am not that strong... I am not! I wish I was, but...' She soundly exhaled.

She was looking up, snooping around, when she suddenly saw something was off.

'What are they doing there?' She asked herself, noticing some strange men walking on the correctional roof.  
'This can't be right!' she thought, acknowledging the men were all geared up and heavily armed.

She immediately took her purse, and started insistently searching for something.  
'Here it is!' She took out a card, and dialed the number on her phone.

'Sergeant Harrelson.' Hondo picked up, not recognizing the caller's number.

"Sergeant... It's, it's Grace, um, Grace Devemport."

'Grace?' Hondo's tone was full of surprise.

Luca raised his eyebrows, overhearing his boss pronouncing the girl's name, and approached him to see what was going on.

'Is there something wrong?'

"I, I think someone is, is trying to break in the state correctional..." she was extremely agitated, "Jimmy... Jimmy is inside, and there, there are some men..." she sounded confused.  
"It's not, not good, right?"

'Calm down girl,' Hondo tried to reassure her. 'I don't follow you...'

"They are armed! They were on the roof... and now..." she tried to describe what she saw, but the panic had the best of her.

'Alright, take a deep breath, and...'

"Wait, no! No!" Grace voice sounded distant. "Nooo..."

'Hey! Grace? What's happening?'  
Hondo heard the sound of a smashed window, then nothing more.

'Grace! Grace!' Hondo kept insisting, but no response came through.

"What's going on?" Luca looked at him, and his blood froze noticing his boss' horrified expression.

 **...**

The group of armed men jumped in the visiting room, gun pointed, interrupting Street's reunion with his mother.

"What the..." Street tried to react, instinctively portending toward his mother, to protect her.  
He was trying to focus on one task at the time, hardly managing to control his still hurting body.

"Don't move!" one of the bad guys immediately pointed his gun at him, while his accomplices secured the other people present.

'Not again. This. can not. be happening. again.' he thought trying to breath the stress out.  
'I can't be a victim all over again.'

The men carefully inspected the room, taking a good look on every single person that was there.

They looked at each other, shaking their heads.  
"Damn! She was supposed to be here!" one of them said, confirming Street's impression that they were looking for someone.  
"Why isn't she here?"

"Don't get all heated up, we switch to plan B."

While the men settled in the visiting room to execute this mysterious 'plan B', Street quickly looked around, trying to take stock of the situation.  
'Eight well armed men,' he looked carefully at them, 'definitely professionals,' he acknowledged seeing their gears.  
'Tree guards handcuffed,' he continued his inspection. 'Three civil, including one boy, and three inmates, including mom...'

He concentrate, needing to stay practical. He knew he couldn't let his fear take over, making him a useless coward.

"Hey! Stop it!" one of bad guys yelled, pointing his gun at the kid, as he started crying.

"Leave him alone!" Street made a step forward, with his instinct taking over again.

"Stay out of this!" Another man hit him with the back of his gun, making him fell on the ground.

"Hey!" Karen immediately knelt next to him, looking badly at their captors.

"I'm okay..." he tried to keep her calm, knowing that her temper could worsen the situation.  
"I'm not new to this," he spat some blood on the floor, and cleaned his mouth with his sleeve.

"Come on, move!" They made all the hostages move to the short end of the room. "Sit down there. And don't say a word."

"Now, business time." The acting boss pointed his gun on a guard.  
"Where is Joanna Bale?"

'So they're here for taking this lady out?' Street thought, trying to understand what their real purpose was.

"I don't know where every single inmate sleeps," the guard's tone was a bit too arrogant.

"You think I am kidding here?" he pressed his gun against his jaw.

Street's instinct had the best of the fear once again, and he tried to get up, but his mother firmly grabbed his arm.  
"Let it go, Jimmy. This is not your fight."

Street beat his tongue, trying to do what his mother said.

"Stop!" A female guard protected her colleague.  
"I'll check on the computer."

"Smart girl," the man nodded, helping her lift.  
"And don't try anything stupid," he glanced at his second in command, who was pointing his gun on the hostages.  
"Do you understand me?" he made her sat in front of the computer, and freed her hands.

"There she is," the guard pointed at the computer's screen.

"Alright, block B, cell 15, " The man made a sign to his mates, and got out with four of them.  
"You," he pointed at the guard. "Open the gates, let's go!"

 **...**

At the SWAT HQ, Hondo's yelling at his phone drew his whole team attention on him.

"What's going on?" Deacon approached him as concern filled the room.

"It's Street, isn't he? He is in trouble again, right?" Luca asked, anxious.

As no response still came through the phone, Hondo hung up, and tried to call Grace back.  
"Voice mail, damn it!"

The whole team was standing by Hondo, staring at him, worried by his eager tone.  
Chris and Luca looked at each other, impatiently waiting to know something more.

"Incursion at the state correctional," Hondo finally spoke up. "At least, it appears so."

"We have to move!" Chris was staring to lose control, "Now!"

Deacon and Tan looked at their teammates perplexed.

"Street is in there..." Luca explained them.

"What?" The two raised their eyebrows, even more confused than before.

 **...**

'There is something odd here, something I can't explain...' Street's was hardly trying to understand what was really going on there, when his expression suddenly changed.

"Let's go, love," another man got in, pushing a girl in front of him.

'Oh no, no no!' Street winced immediately recognizing Grace.

"What do you have there, Nine?" the man who seemed to be the new leader of that small group asked him.

"Just a little rabbit," he pushed her along with the other hostages.  
"She was out there, trying to call the police."

"Hey, hey," Street promptly got to her, apprehensive.

'It can't be!' he thought. 'She was here because of me... Why I keep putting her in this kind of mess!'

"You ok?" he gently put a hand on her face, starting to check on her.

Grace could only nod, unable to say a single word, and fighting hard to not cry.

"What did he do to you?"

"Shut up! Keep your hands on you." Nine said to him, holding his rifle firmly in his hands.

'One, we have a little problem here,' the new acting in command said through his radio. "Someone already called the police, we don't have much time."

'Don't lose control, Two. We are prepared for every scenario.'

 **...**

As the Swat Team was almost ready to go, Hondo went to inform Cortez on the situation, to gain the green light for going out.

"Okay, you sure this is an actual situation?" she asked, worried as they all were.

"You know Grace, and where she comes from, there is not a single reason for her to make up a story like this." Hondo explained his reasons, trying to maintain the calm. "Not after all she and Street went through together."

He paused, looking her straight.  
"She sounded really scared, Jessica."

"Yeah, okay. Go check the story, but be careful." She stopped him to exit her office. "You can't intervene till we know something real, understood?"

He got out eagerly directing toward his teammates.

"Hondo, there you are, we have a call," commander Hicks crossed him in the corridor.

'C'mon, not now!' Hondo exhaled, knowing he could not refuse to go were his commander sent him.  
It was his job.

"A guard from the state correctional says something is wrong there."

"So it's an actual thing?"

Hicks stared at him, raising his eyebrows.

"We were already getting there for a direct report."

"Fill me in."

"Street and his friend, Grace, they are there. He was inside, in visit when she called me from the outside, claiming an incursion, but then the line went dead." Hondo explained as they entered the garage.

"This can't be good." Hicks sighted.

"I'm worried guys," Luca intervened.  
"Street is unarmed, and still convalescent. He is not ready to jump back in the action!"

"Yeah, I just hope he doesn't get himself in more troubles..." Chris added, settling in the van, desperately trying to stay focused on the mission.

"You think he will be good in there?" Chris was obviously apprehensive.

"Unless he decide to play the hero... yes," Hondo said, putting all his attention back on their job.

"Come on, you know him." She continued. "He would do everything to protect his mother. And with Grace caught up in the mix too... there's no chance he will stand back."

"He is well trained, like the rest of us." Deacon added. "Just give him some credit."

Luca couldn't say a word, trying to concentrate on driving.  
He knew that what he had to say about Street's current conditions would only put flesh on the bones of his already nervous colleague, and worsen the already tensed atmosphere.

"I mean, being held hostage again, less than a month after..." Chris sighed.  
"The torture..." she whispered.  
"He is probably freaking out right now. I mean, who wouldn't!"

Luca couldn't help but recall the time spent trying to comfort his friend.  
'And you haven't seen him last night...' he thought, completely helpless.

"We will get to him before he can even know, ok?" Hondo looked straight at her.  
"Just focus now, this is our job, we know how to do this."

 **...**

Street was closely staring at his captors, trying to find a way out.  
'Come on, Jim. Think, there must be something you can do.'

'She's not in her cell.' A pissed voice sounded from the radio.

"Dam it!" Two yelled impatient.  
"Ok, hold on One, I'll make a guard talk!" he said to his boss, and headed toward the captured guards.

"Let's try this again," He approached them. "Where is Joanna Bale?"

'No, it can be that simple,' Street had to close his eyes, to not see what was coming between the captor and the guard.  
'They can't be doing all this just for one single lady detained in a minimum-security facility.' He clenched his fist, trying to maintain the control.

"Hey," Street reopened his eyes, and drew his mother attention. "Do you know whose that lady is?" he asked in low voice.

Karen thought about it for a moment.  
"She's quite new here, I think she arrived just last week."

"Last week?" Street surprised tone drew the bad guy's attention on him.

"Quiet!" one of them yelled at him.  
"Don't make me say it again!" He made a step toward them, intimidating.

'No, there's definitely more," Street barely noticed him.  
'They are too well organized. This can't be an improvised situation.' Street brain was working at the maximum speed, but the solution still wasn't clear to him.

"She is not in her cell," Two continued. "I'll ask you only one more time: Joanna Bale, where is she?"

The guard spit at his captor foot, making him lose his temper an hitting him in the face.

Street bit his tongue again, with his blood boiling in his veins, feeling powerless.  
He knew that if he drew the attention on him, he would risk to involve his mother or Grace, and he couldn't allow that.

'I have to do something, I can't stay back, I can't...' he looked down at his strongly shaking hands.

"So? Still nothing to say?" Two made a sign to one of his man, that approached the hostages, and grabbed the kid.

"No, no, please," the boy's mother cried, not letting him go.

The man tore the kid from her arms, and took him in front of the guards, pointing the gun on his head.  
"Where. is. Joanna. Bale?" Two said, impatient.

Street couldn't hold back anymore, and jumped on his feet, feeling the urge to protect the boy.

"We have a hero here, uh?" Nine hit him violently in the stomach with the back of his rifle, causing him to immediately fall down, totally out of breath.

"Stop!" Karen yelled furious.

"Mom... don't..." Street barely forced his voice out.

"Bale works at the library, you'll find her there," she harshly added, trying to protect her son.

"Thank you lady," Two smirked.

"Ahg..." Street crawled back to his place, with Grace helping him.

She was not controlling her nerves anymore, not wanting to watch him suffer like this all over again, and she starting lowly sobbing.

Street's head was pounding, and he still had some difficulties breathing, but he had to act strong for the people he cared about. He had to put his feelings aside, he had to be the rock Grace needed, and he had to be lucid enough to prevent his mother's bad temper to worsen the situation.

'One, this is Two' the man immediately opened the comms with his boss, 'Target is at the library. I'll make your way clear from the computer here.'

'Copy that. We're on our way.'

"Hey, how did she end up in here?" Street whispered, taking advantage of the men's distraction.  
"The lady they are searching for..." He continued, noticing his mother perplexed look. "What did she do?"

"Shoplift, or something like that, I think," Street's mother replied, "What are you trying to do? You have to stay out of this!"

He looked at her helpless, and laid back on the wall, concentrating on his respiratory rate in the attempt of controlling the pain he still had in his chest.

'It doesn't make any sense!' He though, clueless. 'There has to be more!"

 **...**

Swat team arrived at the scene, and settled their base camp outside the correctional parking lot.

"So, what's exactly the situation here?" Hicks and Hondo approached the first responders.

"We only know someone is inside, but every time we try to get closer, someone shots at us," the officer said.

"There's a sniper up there?" Hondo looked up, starting to understand how serious the situation was.

"Yes sir, but we can't confirm his exact position, I'm sorry.  
"My partner," he glanced toward his patrol car, where another cop was sat. "Was hit in the vest."

"He is okay now," he added noticing the swat members' worried look. "It's just a bruise, but after that we could just patrol the exits, waiting for you."

Hondo nodded, but before he could say anything they were approached by a man dressed in a correction security guard's uniform.

"Fortunately he didn't care about me when I first tried to get in..." he said looking up.  
"I'm Simons, I called you as soon as I noticed there were troubles here," he added.

"Call me Hondo. What did you see?"

"Not so much I'm afraid..."

"How many of them there are?"

"Don't know, sorry, I didn't actually see them."

The Swat members carefully listened to him.

"I was running late for my shift, and when I tried to get in, no one opened the gate for me. I looked in, trying to acknowledge what was going on, when I saw my colleagues were not in their established positions, and I stepped back to call for backup."

"You did the right thing." Hondo stated.  
"Now we're gonna need a detailed map of the building."

"I'm on it." Hicks made his way to get it.

Luca approached his boss, followed by the others.  
"What's the plan?"


	3. Chapter 3

Hondo stood there, silent, trying to make up his mind on their next move.

"We are going in, right?" Chris finally interrupted the silence.

"They disable the security cameras, we have to find another way to take a peek inside," Deacon pointed out. "We can't walk in blind."

"This is a professional job, that's for sure." Hondo sighed.  
"It just seem too much for a place like this."

"Come on! We can't just sit on our hands, letting them do whatever they're here for!" Chris was seriously starting to lose her patience.

"Of course we won't," Hondo tried to keep her calm.  
"But we need a solid plan first. We can't risk to get in without a clue of what led them there. We need to find out what or who they are searching for."

"Well, for that we should know who the hell they are!" Luca said, frustrated.

"I may help you with that," a man in a suit interrupted them.  
"You are the one in charge here?" He approached Hondo.

"Sergeant Harrelson, and you? Who the hell are you now?" Hondo harshly looked at him.

"Agent Morris, FBI." He shook his hand.

"FBI?" Luca couldn't hold back his curiosity. "What are you doing here?"

"I think I know why those men got in there in the first place."

"We're all ears," the Swat Team surrounded him.

"There's one of my protected witness in there."

"You put a protected witness in the county correctional?" Hondo's tone was far from being understanding.

"Her agreement didn't provide for her to skip her jail time.  
"We just changed her name, and transferred her to another county."

"Who is she?"

"We named her Joanna Bale."

"Real name?" Hondo kept staring at him, trying to read between the lines.

"This is a confidential information."

"Right," Hondo huffed. "And what did she do to end up in here?"

"I'm afraid this is confidential too."

"Are you kidding me?" Hondo faced him and agent Morris surely didn't balk.

"You don't have to know that to resolve the situation here."

"Ok," Hondo shook his head. "This is ridiculous! We need to know who is trying to free her."

"I believe they are mercenary."

"That make sense, but we shell also know who they are working for..."

"My target."

"Of course," Hondo huffed, "And your target is?"

"Confidential."

Deacon held Hondo from going for the FBI agent,  
"So they're not here to simply free her, right?" he sighed, acknowledging that the situation just got even worse.  
"They want her dead..." he assumed, staring at the building as to try to see inside trough the walls.

At that point, Chris couldn't hold back anymore.  
"You said you could help identify them, but you are telling us nothing!" Frustration was clear from her voice, and her mind was clouded by the concern for her friend.

"You know all you need to know!" Morris answered extremely irritated. "Just do your job instead of complaining!"

"Okay, let's all calm down now." Hicks intervene. "You are not the only one who has someone he cares about in there."

Morris raised his eyebrows.

"We have a man inside," Hondo explained,  
"If there only were a way to communicate with him..." he looked at the guard, hoping he could suggest a way to do that.

"There's one of yours inside?" The FBI agent interrupted, with his tone growing even more eager.  
"That's not good. If they are who I think they are, as soon as they find out they have a cop in their hands..."

Chills covered their backs as they all looked at each other.

"We needed to move." They all agreed.

 **...**

The sentinel on the roof was observing all the cops' movement.  
'Guys, we're out of time Swat is just outside the building.'

Hearing that, Street sighed in relief, knowing his teammates were coming for him, once again.  
'I knew it! They came.' He closed his eyes thinking about how he felt at the moment Hondo and Deacon appeared in _that_ basement to free him.

"Damn it One! Where the hell are you? We have to hurry!" Two reached his boss over the radio.

'Sit thigh, we're almost there.'

"Cavalry is here," Street whispered, taking Grace's hand. "It's all gonna be fine." He reassured her.

'She's not here either! Not anymore at least...' One's voice sounded trough the radio.

"Damn it!" Two made a move toward Karen, thinking she pointed them in the wrong direction only to make them leave her son alone.

As the guy went closer to her, Street instinctively put his arm before her, praying the man would stop there.  
He needed to protect her, despite the fear, despite everything. 'But how?' he thought.  
'Come on, Jim, think.'

'What do I do now?' He starting shaking again, 'Come on, react! Do something! You can't really be this scared!'

Those two little seconds the man took to approach them seemed like two hours for Street.

'Come on, guys, where are you?' he thought trying to control the tremors of his hands.

'She was here a minute ago,' the radio sounded again, 'Someone must have told her we were coming.'

As he heard that comment, Two held back from hitting Karen or Street, and focused on his task again.  
"We need to turn the cameras back on, we have to find her now." he suggested.

'No, if Swat is here they can intercept the signal. It's too risky, we'll find another way.'

"Copy that, I'll made someone talk, again." The man turned to the guards.  
"Come on, spit it up! Where could she go?"

"It's your last chance. Where did she go?" Two yelled, making one of the male guards get up.

"How can I know? You held me here!" The guard stated.

"Right, you are completely useless." Two pointed his gun on his temple, and killed him in cold blood.

Horror stamped on the hostages' face as they assisted at that unexpected scene.

Grace held Street's arm with all her strengths, hiding her face in his chest.  
And beside he was trying to act strong, she could clearly hear his hurt beating strong and fast, and his all body starting shivering.

He looked down at her, trying to comfort her, but he wasn't able to move a single muscle.  
'Why am I so shocked? Am I really that traumatized?' He though, trying to normalize his respiratory rate.

"Please, please, let my son go..." the mother of the boy whined, hugging her son, and covering his eyes. "He doesn't deserve to assist to all this, please..."

"Shut up! You can only talk if you have useful information." Nine got closer to her. "Do you have that?"

She shook her head, crying, and hugging her boy tight. "Please... please!"

'Come on, I need you guys, where are you?' Street though, feeling totally powerless once again.

 **...**

The gunshot sounded in the air, quickly reaching the cop's ears.

"Shot fired!" Hondo yelled, rushing to cover. "Everybody stand by."

"The sniper is not shooting, it came from the inside!" Luca pointed out, carefully inspecting the surroundings.

'The inside...' Chris froze for a split second. 'Street!'

'C'mon, C'mon...' Chris and Luca looked at each other, not knowing what to expect.  
'Let not be him... Come on...'

"We have to go in now!" Chris eagerly said. "We need to do something!"

"Calm down," Hondo said as silence filled the air again.  
"Street knows how to handle this." He took the map from Hicks hands, and started studying it.

Deacon nodded, then he turned to Chris. "I'm sure he's fine. Don't lose it."

"You have to do something! I can't lose my witness." The FBI agent harshly said.

"Excuse me what? What do you think we're doing here?" Luca stepped in.

"Luca back off!" Hicks intervened before the situation could degenerate.  
"Excuse him, agent, but you are not the only one to have someone important inside."

"Yeah, okay." Morris decided to not pick up the provocations.  
"But you have to move quick. She's a smart lady, I'm sure she has already come up with something to exit from this situation. And it won't necessary be a way to come back to me."

"I may have a way in," Hondo interrupted them. "As soon as we can't get in from where they did, we have to use this back entrance, right there."

"It's not gonna be that easy," Deacon intervened. "Even if we get our hands on the door's keys..."

"I'm already on it." Hicks said stepping away.

"We don't know where they are, or where their target is. We can't patrol the whole building!"

Hondo stared at the FBI agent.  
"So? Where do you think we can find her?"

"She requested to work at the library, so she could contact us whenever she needed. She should been there now."

"But she didn't contact you lately, did she?" Deacon asked, looking him straight.

Morris could only shook his head, while he started putting a vest on, using that as an excuse to avoid eye contact with him.

"Wait, what do you think you're doing?" Hondo noticed he was clearly prepping to join them in the operation.

"I'm coming with you." Morris stated, this time looking his counterpart right in the eyes.

"No. Absolutely no way."

"She is my witness, I'm trained, and I'm coming."

"That's not your call to make." Hondo objected again.

"Listen, I'm letting you supervise the operation here, but you don't have the authority to stop me to come with you."

"You are letting me?" Hondo was a inch away to lose control. "I'm directing this because it's my job, and if there is someone that doesn't have the authority, that's you!"

"Enough!" Hicks intervened, preventing the atmosphere to grow even more explosive than it was.  
"He is right Hondo, if he wants to go in with you, he can."

Hondo's expression gave up all his frustration.

"But if you go in, agent," Hicks turned to Morris, "My man is in command, and you do whatever he tells you to do, understood?"

The FBI agent nodded, waiting for Hondo to do the same.

"Hey, it's all clear?" Hicks insisted.

"Yeah, okay, we have no time to waste, let's get ready." Hondo stepped aside, making Deacon a sign to reach him.

"Something is not right, there's something he is not telling us, something crucial, I suspect."

"Agreed." Deacon supported his boss thought.

"Can you do me a favor? Take an eye on him, don't let him out of your sight, okay?"

Deacon nodded, taking his task very seriously.

"Alright guys," Hondo took the map back in his hands.  
"It's the only lead we have. Let's go."

 **...**

Two started impatiently wondering around the visiting room.  
"I know one of you know something useful." He started watching everyone straight. "Come on, sooner we complete our mission, sooner we get out of here, and you will be free as birds.  
"Well, except for the inmate here," he chuckled looking at his mates.

"No one knows nothing here." The female guard interrupted him.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" Two stopped in front of her. "Do you feel like having a private chat with me?" He reached out for her.

"Two stop! Remember why we are here for. We don't have time for this!" Nine prevented him from going further with her.

"Yeah, right." Two stepped back, looking his teammate, than he turned to the guard. "It seems to be your lucky day girl." He huffed.

"And you? You have nothing to say?" Nine turned to the other guard, who was staring at him in the eyes, without saying a single word.

"You're right, he has never emitted a single sound this whole time. Either he is a coward or he his hiding something." Two looked him straight, trying to catch his reactions.  
"Which one? Uh?" He pointed his gun on the guard's head. "And before you say anything remember the end of your colleague." He said, glancing at the dead guard's corpse.

 **...**

"Alright guys, let's go!" Hondo's team started to move toward the back entrance, trying unsuccessfully to not draw the sniper's attention.

The first bullet hit the ground right at Deacon's feet, giving him the urge of moving faster toward the door, with Luca and Tan trying to cover for him.

They started shooting up, only assuming where the sniper could be by the trajectory of the bullets. He was good at his job, hiding well, and not making any sound. Fortunately for them his shooting was not that perfect, so Deacon could reach his destination on one piece.

"Stay behind me." Hondo made Morris follow him closely, and throw a few smoke bombs, to confuse the enemy. They were shooting blind anyway, so that could go only at their advantage.

That way all the team members and Morris could safely reach Deacon.

"You okay man?" Hondo asked checking on his second.

He nodded, focusing on opening the door so they could get in, freeing themselves from the danger of the sniper.

Luca entered first, "Left side clear."

Then was Chris turn, "Right side clear."

They all got in, and Deacon shut the door behind them.

"Alright guys, follow me," Hondo took the lead, heading toward the library. "Fast and quiet."

 **...**

'One, this is Ten, Swat is in the building, I repeat, Swat is in the building, I couldn't stop them.'

'Yes, I knew that!' Street thought overhearing the radio.  
"Swat is coming for us, don't worry guys," he said, trying to maintain the other hostages calm.

"Damn it!" Two took the radio. "One, we have no time, where the hell are you?"

'I'm on objective's traces, I'm almost there. Stay put, and prepare for evac.'

"Copy that, but you make it quick!"

"Damn it, this is not gonna end well." Nine objected, approaching Two.

"I know, but you heard what One said, right?"

Suddenly Street's attention was caught by a slight movement of one of the guards, the one who remained silent for all that time.  
'No, no, no, don't do anything stupid!' He thought, trying to send him a silent message. 'Please, please, don't!'

The man carefully looked around, to make sure his captors were distracted, and started to sneak out of the room.

'What the hell has he in mind?' Street asked himself, trying to not think about what was going to happen when the bad guys would discover this reckless move.  
He wished he could say him to stop, and be patient. Tell him that the good guys were coming for them, but he couldn't. He knew that drawing the bad guys' attention on them would probably sign the guard's end, and he could not be responsible for that.

"Hey!" Nine pointed his gun toward the guard. "What you think you doin man? Uh? You want to taste my gun, won't you?"

He lifted his hands, sitting back, silent, praying to not be shoot.

'No, not again! Please...' Street closed his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out how to prevent another pointless death, but he could do nothing. Once again the fear held him back.

Fortunately the guard got away with only a few bruises, and not with a bullet in his head as they all expected.

"Okay... okay..." Street sighed in relief, praying that anyone else would try anything before his teammates could appear and rescue them.

"Hey, listen up you all, the next who tries something stupid like this," he pointed at the beaten guard, "Well, he or she won't be able to try anything else, for good! Understood?"

The hostages all nodded, knowing that their holder weren't kidding.

Street looked at his mother, then at Grace, and then at everybody else, trying to pass them his confidence in his Swat friends.  
"Hang on, this is gonna end soon, you'll see." he whispered, trying to not draw the bad guys attention on him.


	4. Chapter 4

The Swat members stopped outside the library, as Hondo put his fist in the air.

They all looked at each other, ready to get in and take the mysterious witness in custody.

As Hondo gave them the green light, Luca and Deacon immediately execute the order, entering the library with their assault rifles pointed.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" One of the inmates prayed them, putting her hands up. "We are unarmed. We don't have anything to do with this, please!"

"Metro Swat, don't be afraid, we're here to help." Hondo and his team quickly inspected the room, only finding four inmates and a wounded guard laying on the floor.  
"What happened here?"

"Men with guns," the inmate tried to explain. "They got in, and beat the guard up because they didn't find who they were looking for..." she glanced at the woman on the floor. "They got out just a couple minutes ago."

"That stupid troublemaker legs it!" Another inmate added, "They were looking for..." she couldn't finish her sentence that the FBI agent's insistent calling made her silent.

"Joanna!" he yelled, making his way toward the women.  
"It's me, Morris. Show yourself!"

"Don't be so loud!" Chris intervened annoyed, "Are you crazy? Do you want to draw the whole penitentiary's attention on our position?" she looked at her teammates, discouraged.

"Where is she?" Morris ignored her, and started insistently interrogating the presents. "Where did she go? She was here, right? Did they take her?"

"Stop it right now!" Hondo faced him, noticing he was making the inmates even more tensed than they already were. "Let us do our job."  
Then he turned his attention to Deacon, who was knelt by the guard, checking on her status.

"It's alright," Deacon helped the guard lift in a sitting position. "Are you okay? Any serious wound?" He cautiously checked on her.

"No... I'm..." she murmured.  
"I'll manage..."

"What happen to Joanna?" Morris abruptly interrupted her.

"Why are you all interest in that stupid..." the lady said again, with an irritated tone, but Morris quickly stopped her from commenting further.

"They came here asking of her, didn't they?"

"You are FBI, right?" The guard forced her voice out. "I knew something was odd with her situation here."

All the other present looked at each other surprised, starting to murmur between themselves.

"I need to know where she is." Morris continued, careless. "Now."

"She was here right before those armed guys irrupted, but then I lost sight of her..."

"You lost her? Isn't it your job to..."

"She was gone before they could find her, isn't it better?" The guard tried to protest.

Morris rolled his eyes, getting more and more frustrated, but before he could say something not very nice to the guard, Chris intervened.

"Stop it! This was an impossible situation, okay?" she interrupted him.  
"She must have sneaked out during the commotion."

"Um, I doubt that," Luca intervened, "She must got out of here before they even got in. There's no way they could not notice her going out. They're too well organized."

"I told you," Morris added, "She is a smart lady."

"So we have to find her first." Hondo cut the discussion short.

"Right, captain obvious..." Morris kept looking around, nervous.

At that point Hondo had to use all his strengths to ignore the comment, and stay focused on the mission.

"Hey, at least the guard is right, we still have a chance to find her before they do." Chris was trying to calm Morris down, knowing that his willing to acting solo was the last thing they needed.

"We need to know where the mercenary went," Hondo turned to the inmates, "Did they say anything about their next move? Or can you at least tell us which corridor did they took?"

"They went that way," one of the lady instantaneously replied, pointing them in the right direction.

"Yes, they went there, but I doubt Bale did." the guard intervened.

"Why?" Morris tone raised even more eager.

"I directed them to the cafeteria only to buy some time..."

"So you don't think she went there?" Hondo was carefully listening to her, while Deacon quickly took out the map to visualize what she was saying.

"I can only guess that she would more probably hide in the laundry..." The guard continued. "I think she has some friends there."

"You were very helping, thanks," Hondo said, then he turned to Morris, "Do you know something about that?"

He shook his head, disturbed that his witness was hiding things from him.

"They are probably already here," Deacon pointed at the cafeteria on the map, "And by now they would have already acknowledged she is not there, so we have to move quickly."

"Alright guys, Chris, Tan, you two need to escort them out." Hondo glanced at the guard and the inmates, "We can't risk the men to come back at them."

Chris and Tan reluctantly nodded, knowing they had to follow the orders, but feeling like they were abandoning Street there.

"You think you can walk?" Chris asked to the guard, helping her get on her feet.

She nodded, barely maintaining her balance.

"I got her, let's go," one of the inmates promptly intervened, "Please..."

"Alright, let's go!" Chris nodded, looking Hondo in search of his approval.

"Go, and keep your radio open, we will need you back as soon as they are safe." Hondo said, then he turned to Morris and the rest of his team. "We take this corridor, and reach the laundry from this way." He waited that they all nodded and make his sign to go. "If the mercenary went here, we should not encounter them."

 **...**

Back in the visiting room, the tension was raising the maximum level. Being there was like being in a powder keg only waiting to explode.

Street looked down at his sweated hands, feeling powerless and totally useless once again, still trying to catch his breath after the beating he took earlier.

"Hey," Two made a sign to Nine, who reached him in the corner of the room.  
"Ready for hevac, as soon as One has the lady we are out of here," he looked him straight, "I really don't like how things are stirring up."

Nine nodded, and headed back to his other mates.

'Come on guys, you're almost out of time there...' Street thought, carefully watching his captor's moves.

Suddenly Nine caught his look, and immediately went toward him.  
"What are looking at, uh, you want to play the hero, don't you?" He approached him. "Or you just need something from me?  
"No...You want to taste this." He pointed his gun straight at him, making Karen raise her head, ready to jump on him any minute. "Don't you? Come on, make your move buddy."

"No, I, I'm sorry," Street looked down, while reaching out to his mother with his right arm, to prevent her doing anything reckless.

"Yeah, you better be, litle piece of junk." Nine's tone was getting seriously intimidating.

'Please let it go... let it go...' Street kept preying in his mind.

"Hey, stop playing there, Nine!" Two interrupted him. "We don't have time for that now, stay focused on your task!"

Hearing those words Street closed his eyes, and sighed in relief.  
'Okay, just breath Jim...' he thought, trying to lower his heartbeat rage and get back control of himself.

 **...**

Hondo, Luca and Deacon entered the laundry, gun pointed, followed by the FBI agent, who immediately started to check the surroundings to find his witness.

The two guards that were there instantly reacted, pointing their teasers on the newcomers.

"Hey, hey, we're metro Swat!" Hondo lowered his gun to ease the pressure on them.

"What the hell is going on here?" one of the guards instantly asked, while the other one promptly started rounding up the inmates.

"There was an incursion. Didn't you hear anything?" Hondo approached them.

They both shook their heads, trying to hide their fear.

"A bunch of mercenary are here to take care of one of your inmates." he continued.

"Mercenary? And they are in here right now?" The guard started frenetically looking around, as to find some instantaneous way out.

"Joanna! Come out!" Morris yelled again, regardless he has been told to stay quiet. "It's me, Come on, you can get out, you're safe!"

The two guards look at them incredulous.

"We have reasons to believe that a first group of armed men took control of the principal entrance and the visiting room, while a second group is wandering around, looking for this particular inmate: Joanna Bale.

"Bale? She should not be here..."

"Yet there she is..." Luca drew the attention on a woman standing in one of the laundry basket.  
"It must be her, right?" he said as the two guards looked back confused.

"Hey, you okay?" Morris carefully helped her out, "What the hell were you planning to do? Uh?" he whispered to her, holding her arm tightly.  
"You should contacted me, follow the protocol!"

"Screw the protocol!" She tried in vain to free herself from the man's grab. "I was just trying to survive."

"Yeah, okay..." he shook his head, without the minimum intention of letting her go. "We are going to take you out of here, now."

"Wait, what about the other hostages?" Luca objected looking around. "We have to continue searching, we can't leave them in here with those men."

"I don't care about the other hostages! My job is to keep her safe, and that's what I'm going to do."

"Alright, calm down now," Hondo intervened. "We have to take all these ladies out before we can move further. We're going to reunite with Chris and Tan, then we'll make our move to free Street and the rest of the hostages."

Luca soundly exhaled, trying to control his disappointment.

"Don't you have something more than those playthings?" Hondo asked to the guards, pointing at their teasers.

"We have guns and shotguns, but they are locked up in the armory."

"No, we have no time for that," Hondo exhaled, "Stay among us, and all is gonna be fine."

 **...**

Chris and Tan successfully took their rescued hostages to the back door.

"25 David to command," Tan took his radio out. "We're ready to exit with multiple hostages, what's the situation out there?"

'You're clear to go 25 David.' Hicks instantaneously replied. "We have our own snipers covering for you now.'

"We're coming!" Tan said to his commander, then he turned the ladies, "Alright, stay among us and everything will be fine, let's go!"

As Tan finished his sentence, Chris opened the door, and made her way out, followed by the others.

As promised, the Swat snipers covered for them, neutralizing the mercenary on the roof, and they could reach their base safe and sound.

"Come with me, madam," an EMT promptly helped the injured guard toward the ambulance to check on her, while the LAPD took care of the inmates.

"Okay, let's go back in." Chris eagerly said, heading again toward the correctional.

"Stop!" Hicks ordered her. "Hondo and the others found the FBI's witness, they will be out of there any minute now."

Chris looked at him clearly upset, her first thought was for her friend, who was held hostage by a group of ruthless soldiers, not for the mysterious lady.

"Just wait for them, so we can take stock of the situation before making this thing even worse."

"But we can't waste time," Chris' voice showed all her anxiety. "Street is still in there!"

"I know," Hicks looked straight at her. "But these are my orders, did you understand, officer Alonso?"

Chris reluctantly nodded, and turned his back on the commander, letting all her frustration out.

 **...**

"Clear, let's go." Deacon said, getting out of the laundry followed by Luca.

"Come on, get out, get out," Hondo ordered, pushing the ladies out.

Morris was the first to step out the door after the two Swat members, always keeping his witness on his side, with the others inmates following him, then it was the guard's turn, and finally there was Hondo, who closed the line, covering everybody's back.

The now large group was almost midway to the exit when Deacon put his fist in the air, preventing them to move further.

"Shh, I got movement." He whispered, trying to peek what was going on in the next corridor.  
"It's them!" He looked back at his boss, alarmed.

"Come on, this way! Hurry up." Hondo led them back to a small room. "Be quiet..."

He couldn't finish his sentence that the mercenary spotted them, and started shooting.

'Careful, do not hit her!' Deacon heard those words coming from the leader of the mercenary.

Bullets started flying in every direction, as the Swat members started firing back, and they could barely reach the room, closing the door behind them.

"Come on, Come on, get covered." Hondo reversed a table, and made the inmates hide behind it, while Luca and Deacon blocked the door with a couple of cabinets.

"You think they saw her?" Hondo asked Deacon, glancing at Joanna.

"They sure did," Deacon confirmed, "They're not going to leave us alone till they have their hands on her."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too." Hondo soundly exhaled.

"Damn it!" Morris yelled. "We have to find a way out. Now!"

"Be quiet once for all!" Hondo yelled at him, out of patience.  
"Let. us. do. our. job!"

"Fine," Morris surrendered to Hondo's bitter tone. "But you better find a solution quick!"

"20 David to command," Hondo took his radio, "We have a situation here..."

 **...**

"One this is two, we lost our sentinel on the roof, do you want me to send out someone else?"

'We have bigger problems here now,' One's voice sounded from the radio.  
'Swat took her! I repeat, Swat have our objective right now.'

"Damn it!" The bad guys in the visiting room looked at each other, frustrated.

"I knew this was not going to end well..." Nine said exasperated.

'Okay, that's good, Hondo has control now.' Street thought, starting to hope it was all going to end soon.

'We trapped them, they don't have a way out.'

'And that's not good!' Street state of mind immediately changed.

"Okay, so just got in and take care of them!"

'No, no, no, you can't!' Street thought, with his hands starting shaking again. 'My team will handle it, they... they...' he tried unsuccessfully to prevent the panic to kick in.

Grace noticed his altered state, and took his hand in hers, making him look her straight.  
He took a deep breath, and nodded at her trying to be as much reassuring as he could.  
"It's okay, they got this, you saw them in action..."

'They barricaded inside,' the radio sounded again. 'It will take a while to flush them out, and we don't have so much time! They must have called for backup by now!'

"Screw them! Just kill them all then!"

Horror stamped on Street's face as he imagined his friends blown up by some heavy explosive he expected they could have in their arsenal.  
'No, no, no, I have to do something...'

'We can't, you idiot! The client wants the lady alive, don't you remember? He needs information from her.'

"Yeah, right... Sorry boss..."

'Thank God!' Street thought half relieved. 'They've got time. They will manage this.' He kept repeating to himself.

"So what are we doing now?" Nine said, getting more and more anxious.

'Well, I'm expecting them to try to negotiate.'

"Of course," Two said, with a sadistic smirk on his face. "You are thinking about hostage exchange. It's good that we have some good one here with us." he said, looking directly at the mother and the kid.

'Ok, I'm out of time... I have to make a move...' Street tried to convince his paralyzed body to move, 'I can't let them take him... I can't...' he tried his best to stop the shivering.

 **...**

As Hondo's voice sounded from the radio, shock invaded the Swat members at the camp.

"We have to get back in immediately, they need us!" Chris put pressure on the already stressed Hicks.

"Backup is on your way, Hondo, hold on." Hicks nodded answering the radio.

"It's good that we're ready to join the party." Munford said getting there at that exact moment.

"Good to see you, sergeant," the commander nodded to him. "Hondo's team alongside a bunch of hostages should be in here, barricaded in this room," he pointed at the spot on the map. "You need to go there, and free their way for the exit. But be careful, they are very well armed there."

"Copy that, we're on it."

"Where do you want us sergeant?" Chris quickly moved to his side, ready to jump back in the action.

Munford looked her, then he turned to look at Hicks.

"Take them, Hondo needs all the help he can get."

"Alright, listen up guys," Munford called all his team to him, "We go in this way," He indicated the corridor on the map, "Then, Rocker, you take Chris and Tan, and round them this other way. Understood?" He looked straight at them till they made him a sign the orders were clear.  
"Come on, let's roll. Fast and clean."


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey! Swat!"  
One's yelling through the door caught the team's attention.

"I know you're in there, and I know you have what I am looking for! Just let her out, and all this will end."

Hondo looked at his teammates, waiting for a good idea to pop up in one of their minds.

"Come on, it's easy..." One's voice came through the door once again.

Deacon nodded to his boss, making him a sign to say something.

"How do we know you will not hurt any of us after you get what you want?" Hondo yelled back.

"Hey, are you crazy?" Morris approached him, looking him straight. "What the hell did they teach you in your academy? We are not giving her to them!"

"Just send her out!" another of the inmates jumped in the conversation, "Her life is not more precious than all ours combined."

"Hey! Don't you dare, Amanda!" Joanna tried to go after her, but Luca stopped her.

"Calm down, ladies, this is not the time to resolve your personal issues." He kept them apart.

Morris briefly glanced at his witness, then turned his attention back to Hondo, still being an inch from his face, and waiting for a good explanation from him.

"Stop it!" Hondo lowered his voice. "I am not seriously considering that!" he tried to cool people down.  
"I'm just trying to buy us some time, till our backup is here." He moved away from Morris. "And now, stay out of my way!"

"Hey, let's not waste our time here," One's vice kept coming through the door. "We all have our mission. Yours is to keep everybody safe, and mine is taking the girl back to where she belongs.  
"I assure you, once we have her, we're out in no time, and you can take the rest of the hostages. And I promise you, we're not going to hurt her."

"It seems fair to me." he added, tired of waiting for a sign from inside the room.

"Fair!" Luca said, shaking his head, not impressed by his words.

"Yeah, well, the fact is, I don't believe you man." Hondo replied, keeping up his efforts to buy some more time.

"I am a man of my word, you can trust me!"

"That's not gonna happen, and you seem pretty expert in this kind of things, you should know better."

One started to get impatient, and took his radio in his hand. "Two, let's the dance begin, grab the first hostage, he has a call to make."

'Copy that boss, where do you want me to start?'

'We don't have much time, let's start directly with the kid.'

 **...**

Two was about to take the boy from his mother's arms when she started crying loudly, and praying them to leave him alone.

"Wait! Take him!" she pointed at Street. "He is a cop! He's one of them, he's Swat!"

Hearing that leak from a fellow inmate, Karen couldn't help but gave her one of her best furious looks.

"I'm sorry... I..." the lady looked Karen, then she looked back at her son, whom she tightened to her breast.

"You're gonna pay for this, you stupid bit..." Karen whispered, keeping her eyes fixed on her.

"SWAT?" All the bad guys turned to him, eyes full of surprise.

Street closed his eyes for a few seconds, and gritted his teeth, imagining what his fate could be.

"Oh m'am you should tell us this a long ago." Two left her and her son alone, and approached Street.  
"Oh, I knew from the beginning you were kind of a hero." He took Street by his neck, making him stand up and lean on the wall, keeping his hand strongly grabbing the cop's throat.  
"So, tell us, what are your friends up to? What's the procedure, uh?"

"Go to hell!" Street grinned.

Two hit him in the stomach, making him crawl down, unable to give anything back.

"Stop!" Karen yelled, but Nine got to her, and pointed his gun at her temple.

"I got this, mom!" Street managed to say, biting the bullet. "Don't worry!"

"So this is your mom, uh?" Two approached Karen, and made her stand up.

"Let her go, you bastard!" Street painfully got back up, barely able to breath, with a hand holding his chest, and the other firmly on the wall, as the only thing that kept him on his feet.

"Wait, Two," Nine intervened. "As much as I would love to play with him a little, that's not worth it."

"Yeah, I know... he will be more valuable as a bargaining chip." Two made Karen sit down aside, to maintain full control on her son, and arranged a last, solid hit in Street's stomach, leaving him down, completely out of strengths.

As Street heavily abandoned his sore body to the ground, Grace rushed to him, sustaining his head while he tried to recover.

"It's ok..." Street forced his voice out.  
"It's all... gonna be... okay..." he said to reassure her, noticing how genuinely terrified she was, but also to remind that to himself.  
He knew he couldn't give up now.  
He had to hold on, and keep biting the bullet.  
"We have been in worse spots, right?" He succeeded in sitting up again, leaning his head on the wall.

Grace looked straight at him, and forced out a smile, with tears still descending on her cheeks.  
"We sure survived worse..." she sniffed.

"One," Two contacted his boss, looking directly in Street's direction. "I have a little present for you here,"

 **...**

"Right side clear,"

"Left side clear,"

"Okay, let's go." Munford whispered, as his team advanced through the penitentiary's hallways.

"Alright," the sergeant stopped them, "Time to split the team."  
He quickly inspected the surroundings, then he called his men to him.

"Rocker, Tan, Chris, you go this way, and round them." He looked them straight, waiting for a sign of agreement.

"Fast and clear, right?" Rocker answered to his boss, "We will be there for Hondo and the others in no time."

"Just let me know when you're in position, okay?" The sergeant ordered, giving them his green light to go.

The three young agents nodded, and quickly headed toward their destination, only focusing on getting their men back.

 **...**

'This is a hell of a gift, Two,' One's voice was full of surprise, 'It seems our luck is changing around.'

"Let's just close this deal and get out of here, please," Two harshly said, feeling the urge to get out of that situation. "Where do you want him?"

'Grab him, and pass him your radio, his teammates would be glad to hear his voice.' One's sadistic tone made the hostages shiver.

"I'm on it, we'll use channel four, alright?"

'Copy that, I'll make sure his Swat friends will be listening.'

"You heard that?" Two approached Street, and made him a sign to stand up again.

"No, no, please, don't go..." Grace grabbed his left arm, trying to hold him back, fearing that if she let him go that would be the last time she could hold his hand.

He turned back to her, and looked her in the eyes, heartbroken by her terrified look.

"Move!" Two's impatient tone made Grace start, and tight her grab even more.

"It's okay," He tried to reassure her, "Let me go, it will all be alright, trust me." He quickly loosened the hand shake, trying to give her the most comforting look he could.

"Come on, we don't have the whole day!" Two put the radio in Street's hand, "Now it's your turn, hero, convince your people to give us what we want, and it won't happen anything to your beloved mom." He glanced toward Karen, making him look her way, only to find Nine with his gun pointed at her jaw.

 **...**

"Hey, Swat leader!" One's voice drew Hondo's attention once again.  
"I suggest you to switch your radio to channel four, I really think you want to hear this!"

Hondo's eyes meet Deacon's as they both started to feel the chills on their back, knowing exactly what was going to happen: that was a manual hostage situation, and negotiation were about to start.

The silence grew heavy in the room, with all the presents waiting for something to happen.

'Hondo,' A familiar voice finally came from the radio. 'This is Street, I'm held hostage in visiting roo...'

"Street!" Hondo felt the concern growing on him, as he listened to his young teammate's weak voice.

Silence again.

'He was talking too much...' Hondo acknowledged, biting his tongue.

"Street! Are you all okay there? We heard a shot..." he tried to resume the conversation.

'They are probably instructing him on what to say.' he thought, patiently waiting for an answer.

'All the ten hostages are good for now... but there's a boy here, he is very scared... agh...'

The last thing they heard was Street coughing, then nothing more.

"What happened?" Luca said, extremely alarmed.

"He gave us his position, and the numbers of hostages... that must have annoyed them..." Hondo tried to give a solid explanation.  
'Smart kid,' he thought, 'You're doing great, hold on, we will come to you.'

'They are not joking here...' Street's suffering voice reached them again. 'You have to do what they say or...'

"I'm sorry, kid," Hondo took a deep breath.

'I'm sure he knows,' the three Swat members kept thinking, 'I'm sure he is saying those things only to not worsen the situation there... I'm sure he doesn't want us to surrender to their requests,' their eyes met, and in each of their look the others could read the extreme concern they were feeling for their friend.  
'He knows we would do everything we can to prevent anything happens to him or his family...'

"We can't do that... you know." Hondo continued.

Silence.  
Again.

'Look boss, the shot you heard before...' Street continued, inadvertently letting a bit of his fear transpiring from his voice. 'They already killed a guard, Hondo...and they are going to kill more of us, if you don't hand them the lady...'

The three of them crossed their look again.  
'Damn it!' they all thought. 'What do we do now?'

"You heard that?" One started yelling again. "What's your answer?"

"Hey man," Hondo continued to buy time talking to their leader. "Can you tell me why this lady is so important to you to make you risk your life?"

"Well, let's do one thing, you give her to us, and I tell you everything you want, deal?"

"Come on, you know I'm not going to surrender that easily... Tell me why it's so important to you to catch her alive, and maybe we can find a satisfying arrangement."

"Fine, let's try something different, okay? I'll give you one more choice," One continued, "Laura, can you hear me?"

Joanna startled, hearing her real name called, while everyone in the room started staring at her.

"We are all listening, go ahead." Hondo said, noticing the lady had no intention of speaking up.

"Tell me where you put the money, and maybe I can consider to not kill you."

"Are you kidding me?" Luca said, discouraged. "We are here for some stupid money the lady stole from the wrong person?"

"You knew that, didn't you?" Deacon said approaching the FBI agent.

"Yes, some money was missing, but she swore she didn't take them."

"Unbelievable," Luca shook his head, letting out all his frustration.

"Alright Swat, I'll give you five minutes to make up your minds, then my mates there will start killing the first hostages."

'And be aware,' Another voice came through the radio. "Your friend's mother is the next on the line."

"What are we waiting for?" The inmates became seriously impatient. "Just tell them where the damn money is! They will let her go then..."

"Yeah, it's not that you can use it from here anyway..." Another lady pointed out.

"I don't know, what they are talking about..." Joanna insisted.

"Are you still sticking on that lie? How stupid can you be?" the inmate continued.

"Hey, stop," Deacon intervened before the situation could degenerate. "We can't however do that. There's no chance they will let us out once they have what they want, our best chance is to buy a little more time, our backup is on his way, don't worry."

"That's not good, Hondo," Luca's tone let out all his concern. "Street won't let them hurt his mother, or anyone else in there, we have to do something."

"We can't think about the other hostages right now!" The FBI agent jumped in the conversation. "We are in enough trouble ourselves."

Hearing those selfish words, Luca completely lost self control, but before he could say or do anything to him the tension was broken by the sound of an explosion.

"What the..." they all startled, trying to understand what was happening.

"Come on, get behind the table, quick..." Deacon promptly made all the ladies move in a safer position.

They heard shots, and yells, but the commotion was illegible from their current position.  
The Swat members had no other choice to holster up their guns, and get ready for whoever could come from the door.

"Hondo, the outside is clear," Munford's reassuring voice reached their ears. "We have the men under control.

Relief pervaded them, as they felt free to lower their guns, and open the door.

But that good sensation lasted only a couple of seconds, till the thought of their friend still in the bad guys' hands flashed in their minds again.

"We have to go take Street," Hondo said, "They gave us five minutes till they would start killing hostages," he looked at his watch, "we have three..."

"We have to move before they can realize we neutralized their teammates." Luca pointed out, edgy.

"No, we have to get out of here!" Morris abruptly interrupted them.

All Hondo's team members had to bite their tongue to not put their hands on him.

"Munford, you got this?" Hondo glanced at the group of guards and inmates they just rescued from the mercenaries.

"My men do. Rocker and I are coming with you." Munford severally replied. "Come on, what are we waiting for? we're wasting time we don't have!"

 **...**

"Four minutes," Two said, walking randomly around the visiting room. "Time is almost up." He approached Karen, ready to execute any order would come from the radio.

"Wait! Take me instead!" Street put his fear aside, and made a move to stand, but Nine pointed his gun on him and Grace, preventing him to do anything.

"Oh, don't worry, momma's hero, it will soon come your turn!" Two said to him, still maintaining his grab on Karen.

'Come on guys! It's time to do something! I can't handle this alone... let me know what to do... come on..." Street thought, making every little cog in his brain run in search for a solution.

"Five minutes," Nine said to his teammates, "It's time, what do we do?"

"Wait for One's orders, maybe the girl is talking, give them a little more time."

"I don't know Two, I don't like this," Nine continued, constantly sneaking his head out to check on their sentinel outside the room. "There's something wrong here..."

"One, this is Two, what are our orders?" Two tried to break the radio silence, but no response came through.

"I told you!" Nine started pacing the room, "Listen to me, just drop everything, and let's get out of here. This is not worth the money they offered us."

"Are you nuts?" Two stopped him in the center of the room. "We are not leaving our team just for a missed communication. Be patient, and stay at your place!" He looked him straight in the eyes, "Understood?"

Nine nodded, looking away. At that moment his eyes went back at the door, where there was supposed to be a sentinel, but there wasn't.

"What the..." He tried to draw Two's attention on the situation, but before he could open his mouth again, Swat was in the room, and the fight started.

"Metro Swat! Put the guns down!" They yelled getting in, ready to shoot at anyone who didn't obey their orders.

'They're here,' Street thought, looking toward Grace to share his relief with her, but meeting his eyes with her, he immediately understood her panic, as well that of the other hostages.  
'Of course, they are not trained as I am...'

"Stay down, and stay together," he tried to reassure them, as the fight between the cops and the mercenaries heated up the place.

It all happened in a blink, and Street found himself overwhelmed by the events.

But this time, he reacted without thinking, taking care of the other hostages, protecting them.  
He was finally free from the fear that constantly paralyzed him till the day he got kidnapped and tortured.  
Unfortunately, in that situation, he could still do nothing more that watch his friends fighting.  
He was powerless once again.

As the first of his teammates went down under the Swat's fire, Two promptly hide behind Karen, pointing his gun to her temple.

Street was back to himself, but he could not still help his mother.  
His mind went back to all the times he could not protect her from his father's beatings, to all the times he had to watch her suffer, waiting for his turn to come.

Now he was fully grown up, but he could still do nothing for her.

As Karen felt the man's grab tightening her, she instantly tried to free herself.  
She was sick of being threatened, and if there was a thing she learned from her late husband was to fight.

She took a deep breath, and arranged a strong hit in Two's stomach with her elbow, making him loosen his catch.

At that point Street had the opportunity to jump on him, and he promptly took it, making the two of them fall on the ground together.

They started fighting for the gun, and suddenly an accidental shot went off, leaving them both motionless on the ground, with a pool of blood expanding under them.


	6. Chapter 6

Hondo and the other Swat members finally reached the visiting room.

"Time's up," Luca said, staring at his watch. "We have to go in now!"

Deacon knelt, and took out the fiberscope. Then he carefully sneaked the tool out the corner, and started inspecting the corridor, trying to have a good pitch on the situation.

"There's a sentinel outside the door," he said in a low voice, "We can't go in from there without being seen."

"We have to neutralize him, quickly and silently." Hondo said, thinking of a good plan to execute the action.

"I can take care of it." Chris interrupted Hondo's thoughts.

"How?" They all eagerly waited for her explanation.

"The air vents." She made them look up. "I can go in from here, and reach the sentinel from the conducts, there's another grate right above him." She pointed at her objective.

They all looked toward the corridor, and over the sentinel's head.

"Alright, but once you are up there?" Hondo asked, still not convinced by Chris' plan.

"I'll paralyze him with the teaser, then one of you can reach him, and take him out of his mate's sight."

"I can do that, so you all can prepare for the final breach." Rocker said, wanting to be part of that action.

"Hondo we don't have time to waste, come on..." Luca was getting more and more impatient.

Hondo sighed, knowing from his teammates' faces that Luca was not the only one who was feeling like that.

"Okay, it can work." He nodded. "Get ready for the action."

As those words came out from his mouth, Luca helped Chris get in the conduct from the air vent, then they all waited for her move.

Chris reached the right grate in no time, and rapidly settled in, pulling out the fiberscope to get a quick look in the visiting room to make sure the action would not be spotted by the bed guys inside.

She vacillates for a moment, not being able to see her friend from her current position.  
'C'mon Chris, there's no time for this.' She thought trying to concentrate. 'I'm sure he's alright, I just have to get in, and set him free.

She took a deep breath, then she used her rifle to give Rocker a warning signal that she was about to take her action.

At that point all she had to do was take the teaser in her hands, aim, and pull the trigger.

As the electrodes, touched the sentinel's arm, he started shaking.  
His body tensed, his muscles became paralyzed, and he wasn't able to emit a single sound.

At that precise moment Rocker jumped on the man, grabbing him before he could fall on the ground right where he was standing, drawing the other mercenaries' attention on what was going on in the corridor.

It all went as planned. Quick and clean.

Now it was time to free their friend.

 **...**

As soon as the sentinel was out, the Swat Team could approach the visiting room's door, and take a quick peek inside.

"Alright, they are well armed and fully geared," Hondo studied the situation, "Be careful, we have to avoid casualties at all cost."

Unfortunately, before he could come up with a solid plan, the men inside acknowledged their sentinel went missing, and the Swat Squad had to instantaneously intervene.

"Metro Swat! Put your weapons down!" They yelled, getting in.

As they clearly expected, the mercenaries didn't obey, and instantaneously started a gunfight.

'This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, damn it!' Hondo thought, frustrated.

Bullets started flying in every direction, and the risk for the hostages to be caught in the crossfire grew high.

Deacon was the first to succeed in taking a clean shoot to one of his enemies, and the first of their men went down.

The Swat members observed with the corner of their eyes Street rounding the other hostages, in the solid attempt of keeping them safe.

'Good job, kid.' Hondo thought, bringing his attention back to the bad guys.

As the mercenaries were neutralized one after another, Chris found herself with a situation on her hands: one of the men was using Karen as human shield.

Chris was trained to take this kind of difficult shots, but not like this, not with flying bullets, screaming hostages, and a friend in serious trouble.

She hesitated, and missed the window that Karen give her to shoot the man, as she freed herself from his catch.

In that split second Street knew he had to jump in, and take care of the situation by himself.  
He **had** to save his mother, but he also **had** to protect his friend.

In that single moment of hesitation, Chris was an easy target, and Street knew that if the man regained control before she did, he was going to shoot her.

He had no choice.  
He jumped on the man, and made him lose the gun.

Chris watched Street fighting with the mercenary, unable to help him.  
'Come on, Street! You have this!' She thought, feeling powerless.

"Chris, watch out!" Deacon's voice reached her just in time, and she could duck, avoiding that another mercenary could attack her from behind.

Meanwhile the fight between Street and the bad guy frantically continued.

They both had their hands on the gun, desperately trying to take full control on it.  
The two didn't save themselves kicks, pushes and various hits, till Two succeeded in pointing the gun at Street's stomach.

Street maintained his grab strong on the weapon, desperately trying to point it elsewhere, but it was all useless.  
The gun was heavily pressed to his body, when a shot went off.

Street felt his guts burning as hell, and he lost his strengths, abandoning his body on the ground.

As Deacon quickly took care of the last mercenary still standing, silence immediately filled the room.

Chris mutely thanked Deacon for having her back, then she immediately turned back to Street, fully convinced that her friend successfully neutralized the threat he was fighting, but instead what she found in front of her eyes were two motionless body, and blood, a lot of blood quickly expanding behind them.

At that sight her heart stopped, and she couldn't breathe anymore.

She immediately knelt by her friend, checking on his conditions, while Deacon took care of the unconscious mercenary.

The silence grew heavy, as all the presents there were holding their breath, waiting for a good word on Street.

"He was hit in the vest," Deacon acknowledged, checking on the mercenary.  
"The blood is not his..." he added, terrified by the outcome of that observation.

"Jimmy!" Karen yelled, trying to approach her son, but one of the guards blocked her.

"Let her go," Hondo nodded to him, knowing that in that moment Street needed his whole family there, and yes, unfortunately that included his mother.

As soon as she was free to move, Karen reached Street, and sat by him, putting his head on her thighs, and gently caressing his hair.

The silence was getting unreal.

The Swat family, Grace, the guards, and the others in the room kept watching the scene almost paralyzed.

'Please, please, let him be okay...' Grace prayed in silence, unable to move a single step closer to her friend.

"Entry wound in the stomach... exit wound in the back..." Chris said, staring at her shaky, bloody hands. "The...  
"The bullet went through and through..."

"Hicks," Hondo took his radio, "Situation is under control here, but we need an ambulance now!  
"Officer down."

"Street..." Chris tried to bring him back.  
"Street, can you hear me?" She kept speaking to him, starting applying pressure on the wound to minimize the blood loss.

"Jimmy, open your eyes please..." Karen joined Chris in her prayers.

'Come on, come on...' Luca thought, observing the scene completely powerless.

Street slowly opened his eyes, disoriented, and tried to look around, to recognize the surroundings.

He first saw his mother's face.  
'Mom?' he thought, unable to say a single word.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.  
'Did dad hurt me again?' he asked himself, trying to understand his mother's terrified expression.

"Street!" Chris voice barely reached him.  
"Hold on, paramedics are on their way... just... hold on, please..."

'Chris?' He thought, with confusion growing on him. 'What is she doing here?'

He opened his mouth to ask for some explanations, but his throat filled with blood, and he had to cough it out.

"Don't try to talk, everything is gonna be alright, just hang on, okay?" Chris smiled, trying to keep him calm, always maintaining the pressure on his stomach.

"Agh..." Street closed his eyes for a little moment, and his mind cleared in a flash.  
The hostage situation, Grace, the boy, his mother held as a human shield, his friend in danger for trying to rescue him, and finally the fight with the man.  
It was all clear again.

"Y...you...o...ok...?" He forced his voice out, along with a spat of blood, needing at all costs to know the state of the situation, and the state of his friends.

"Don't talk... save your strengths." Chris voice was broken.

"An...anyone...h...hu...hurt...?" he insisted.

Chris looked up to Hondo, not understanding completely what he wanted to know.

"It's all clear, Street," the sergeant intervened. "You did a good job, nobody here is hurt.  
"You did good, kid."

Street felt relieved, and relaxed, but the peace didn't last for long, as he started coughing out blood again, and lost all his strengths, slowly drifting away.

"Come on, don't give up." Chris prayed him. "Stay with us... please!"

He felt her, her words went straight to his heart, but he could do nothing.  
He **had** to close his eyes.

 **...**

The hospital hallways were crowded at that time of the day, with doctors, nurses, patients, and siblings going back and forward from the rooms.

The Swat Team settled in a cold, bare waiting room, along with Grace, who this time refused to leave her friend alone, and got there in the ambulance with him.

"I'm starting to get tired of this!" Luca said, getting up from his chair. "He can't keep doing this to us! He can't..."

"Hey...just take it down, okay?" Deacon made him sit back, and glanced at Grace.

She was already scared enough, without Luca's ruff tone fanning the flames.

"He saved me today..." Chris started talking out of the blue, drawing all her teammates' attention on her.  
"We were there to save him, and instead, he had to save me!"

"Hey! I thought **I** saved you!" Deacon said, trying to relieve the tension.

"We all have each other's back all the time. We're Swat, it's our job." Hondo spoke up, using his most encouraging tone. "No," He paused for a second, "It's what we are, no exceptions."

"How?" Grace said, between one sob and another. "How do you do this? How?"

"Breathe, just breathe for a moment, okay?" Hondo went to sit by her, putting a hand on her back.  
"He is strong, he can do this. I believe that, and you should too."

"He is," she removed her hands from her face to look straight to Hondo. "But he's not..."  
She sniffed, "He... he already suffered too much... he doesn't deserve this... he can't... he..."

'She's right... damn it! She **is** right!' Luca thought, without the courage to say it out loud. 'He was not at his maximum strength... he was still weak... he was still lost...'

"Alright, alright..." Hondo had to maximize his efforts to calm Grace down, because she was really going to lose it.  
"I know he has been through a lot lately, I know that." He took her hands. "But he still can do this.  
I saw his eyes right before he passed out, he was ready to come back to the team, even after all he went through. And he did, he did his job, even if he wasn't officially back."

All the other Swat members stood there silent, listening to Hondo's encouraging speech.

"I saw it in his eyes," Hondo continued, "He is not going to lose this game."

"It's not a game..." Chris muttered between herself, drawing once again all his teammates' attention on her.  
"It's his life... It's..."

Fortunately a doctor came in, interrupting her before she could say anything to worsen the already enough tensed situation, and they all jumped on their feet, waiting for the response.

"Is he..." Luca tried to ask for news, terrified from the doctor's look.

"The bullet punctured his stomach, but didn't cause any major organ damage in his abdomen, which is surprising considering the angle of the wound." He explained to them, trying to be as clear as possible. "It even missed the spinal cord, so I expect no permanent damages in the long term period."

'Some luck? Is it really possible?' Luca thought, hearing those words.

"It however lacerated some of the major vessels, causing a serious blood loss." The doctor continued. "And this combined with his already weakened status, determined a severe state of shock."

'I knew that!' Luca thought, discouraged again. "I knew he couldn't be lucky, even just one single time...'

"What does that mean?" Hondo asked. "Is he going to be alright or not?"

"Only time will tell." The doctor answered. "His body underwent some severe stress in a too short period of time, the shock, the blood loss, all these factors can determine the good or bad outcome of his recovery."

"So he is not out of the woods yet?" Luca said.  
"Again..." he muttered.

"He is stable for now, we're giving him oxygen, antibiotics, and blood, to help his body fight and recover. It can take hours or days, we can just wait."

Hearing those not so encouraging news, Grace had to sit back on the chair just to avoid fainting on the ground.

"Does he have any family to contact?" The doctor passed to more practical things.

" **We** are his family!" Chris hurried back, almost victim of a nervous breakdown.

"We'll take care of that, thanks doc." Deacon immediately intervened.

"Can we see him now?" Chris asked in one breath, with a more suitable tone.

"Yes, but only a couple of people at a time. He is still unconscious, and he probably will be for a while, I already told you, but too much crowd can however stress him out, understood?"

"Yes, thank you, doctor." Hondo nodded to him.

"Can I?" Chris asked her boss, looking at him with puppy eyes.

"Of course, and take Grace with you..."

"But..." Luca objected, desperately wanting to see his friend.

"She needs this," Hondo made him glance at the still shocked girl.

"Yeah, fine..." Luca said, resigned.

"I'll call the correctional," Deacon said, getting out the room. "His mother will be dying to have some news."

"Thanks, Deac'," Hondo nodded to him. "I'll call the HQ."

 **...**

The doctor escorted the two women to their friend's room, and left them there.

Chris immediately approached him, taking his icy, rigid hand, while Grace stood by the door, not able to get in.

"Hey," Chris caressed Street's pale, sweaty face with her free hand, "I'm here for you," she whispered to him, "I'm here because of you, you know that, right?"

Chris sniffed, staring at her unresponsive friend, acknowledging he was not going to miraculously wake up only to take credit for his brave actions, but however she **had** to try...

"Come in, let him feel your presence," she encouraged Grace, who reluctantly approached the bed. "It will be good for him knowing he is not alone."

"You think he knows we're here?" Grace asked, hesitant.

"Of course he does," Chris smiled to her.  
"He has to feel us..." her tone grew darker. "Or how can we help him recover?"

"He didn't deserve all this... he... he..." she started crying again.

"Hey! Stop it." Chris gravely looked at her in the eyes. "Stop it right now! You have to be strong for him." She made her take a deep breath, looking at their friend's motionless, cold, and pale body.  
"He was always strong for you, didn't he?"

Grace nodded. "The strongest and the bravest..." she sniffed.

"Now it's time to pay him back." Chris kept looking her straight. "It's time to show him how strong he thought you to be."

"Yeah," Grace took another deep, big breath.  
"I can be his rock," she took his other hand. "Just this one time... I... I own him after all..."

"Yeah..." Chris soundly exhaled. "We all own him something..."

* * *

.

* * *

 _Author's note:_ _Thank you for the interest you're showing for my story.  
I know you probably expected to learn who was shot already from the first lines, but I decided to try a little different approach on this, repeating a scene, but chaining the point of view.  
I sincerely hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway.  
To be honest, this was supposed to be the last chapter of the story, but it turned out too long, so I decided to split it.  
Hope you're still enjoying my writing, see you next week with the final update.  
_


	7. Chapter 7

The hours passed, and then the days, and Street still didn't regain consciousness.

The Swat members had to resume their job and their lives, but keeping their heads in the game was not so easy.  
The thought of their friend unconscious in that hospital bed was always stacked in their minds, whatever they did.

The thought of him waking up alone made them feel uncomfortable.  
They had to be with him, so they rearranged their life to make turns, so one member of his now large family could always be there, included Annie and some of Chris' cousins, there for covering for the Swat members when they were in action.

Even Munford and Rocker volunteered for watching on him when they were not on shift.

Grace herself had to start her new job, finally behaving like an adult, and starting a new promising life.  
She also kept thinking about Street, visiting his hospital room whenever she could, showing him how grateful she was for having him in her life, and how strong she became, only thank to him.

The first week passed like that, with the family doing the impossible to be with him, even if he probably wasn't aware of what was happening around him, but Street still couldn't decide to wake up.

Then the second week was almost over, and the new routine was kind of the normal now.  
They had the work, they had the family, and then they had to visit their friend at the hospital.

But all that couldn't really become the new normal.

The Swat family started to become impatient as the worry for their friend was consuming them.

Street had to wake up soon, for everyone's sake.

 **...**

"Oh, come on! Wake up!" Chris tried to shake her unconscious friend with the loud sound of her voice.  
"We can't wait for you forever!"

"Yelling at him will not make him open his eyes sooner..." Luca said, getting in, ready to relive his colleague in the guardian duty.

"Well, it was worth a try..." Chris tried to dissimulate her discouraged state.  
"He is taking his sweet time, he had to know it's becoming too much time..."

She turned to Street again. "We can't continue to do your job, we need the sixth member of our team back, and we need it soon."  
'Oh, come on!' she thought, not having the hoped response.  
'I beg you, wake up! I can't stand this anymore...'

"Yeah..." Luca shook his head, chuckling, "No, I mean he never does what he's told to, you know," he glanced at his motionless friend.  
"He is always having his own way, think about that, there's no chance he would do something just because you order him to, right?"

"Yeah," she slightly laughed, looking back at him, "He tends to do that..." she confirmed, turning to Street again to not let Luca see the little tear that was about to escape from her eye.

"Okay, my turn now, you should go take a nap, you look exhausted."

"Just one more minute..." she sighed, reluctantly getting up from the armchair she placed right next to Street's bed.  
"Come on," she whispered to him, "I know you can do this, came back to us."

She hesitated another moment, then she made a couple of steps toward the door.  
"You will page me if something change, right?" She looked Luca straight, making clear she didn't want to leave.

"Of course I will." Luca gave her another of his big smiles.  
"And now go." he escorted her to the door.  
"He will wake up soon, I can bet it. We just have to be a little more patient."

"Just a little, uh? Hope you're right..." she gave Street a last long look before finally getting out the room.

Luca watched her go, then he settled in, starting staring at the monitors.

"Can you feel how worried she is? How worried all of us are? Come on, we are waiting for you, little brother."

 **...**

The days and the nights continued to repeat one like the other, and one after another, seeming fast and never-ending at the same time, without the minimum change in Street's conditions.

The 16th night was passing slowly, with Hondo distantly looking at his cell phone's screen, when a strange beeping drew his attention.

'What the hell is going on now?' He thought, alarmed, looking the monitors.

'Come on, what's that?' He asked himself, getting more and more anxious, trying to understand why the beeping became that irregular.

His concern grew more and more, till his glance dropped on Street's face.  
His eyes were wide open, fixating his boss with a really confused look.

"Hey," Hondo said, relieved. "You're awake." He pushed the call button to make sure a doctor could quickly come and check on his friend.  
'Thank God!' He thought, extremely grateful.

"What..." Street tried to talk, but his voice was stopped by the oxygen mask.

"It's okay, you're safe, you're at the hospital." Hondo reassured him.

Street closed his eyes back for a good moment.  
"How..." He concentrated and took the mask off, "How long... have I... been... here...?"

"More than two weeks," Hondo said, forcing the young cop to put the oxygen mask back on his face.

"Mmm," Street objected, making the monitor beeping faster. "... let me... please..."

"Okay, okay, I think you can have it off for a little while." Hondo removed the thing from his friend's face before his heartbeat fastening could make the monitor explode.

'Wait... My mom? Grace? Chris... everyone...' Street thought, suddenly remembering all that happened when he got wounded.

"How's... how's everyone?" he said, not thinking even for a second to ask about his own conditions.

"No one was hurt, don't worry." Hondo gently made him still, preventing him to pull out his stitches in his stomach.  
"And that's also thank to you."

"Every...one... everyone is okay... then?" He kept striving his voice out, meanwhile trying to force himself to calm down.

"Everyone is perfectly fine, we were all just worried for you." Hondo said, watching him straight in the eyes, and keeping his both hands on his friend's shoulders.

"S-sorry." He heavily abandoned his head on the pillow.

"Hey, no need to be..." Hondo felt he could let him go, so he did, and sat back on armchair. "Not this time at least." He reassured him.  
"But you know, you have to hurry back home, or Luca will definitely take posses of it."

"Ow..." Street took a hand to his stomach. "Don't make me laugh... please."

Seeing his friend suffering like that, Hondo had to force himself to not stop smiling at him. He knew he couldn't let him understand how concerned he really was about his physical state.

At that moment the doctor got in, and started checking on his patient.

"I'll be outside," Hondo reassured Street, getting out.  
"I have to make some calls, there is more than someone who will be very excited to know the news on your awaking."

 **...**

After Hondo ended all the calls he needed to make, he stood by the door, waiting for the doctor to finish his examination.

"So? How is he doing?" He said entering the room again, as the doctor gave him permission to come back in.

"The wounds are healing pretty well," the doctor answered, looking alternately at the two men. "His body is slowly, but regularly regaining its normal functions, and he will have his strengths back soon, I hope."

"You hope?" Hondo's tone let out his renewed concern. "What does that mean? You hope..."

"This..." Street cleared his throat, changing the subject, "This means I, I am good to go... go home?"

"This means you'll be here for at least two more weeks," the doctor said, putting the oxygen mask back on his patient's face.  
"And on bed rest for even more... along with no solid food for a while." the doctor looked at him serious.

"So... I am not... going home... very soon... uh?" Street sighed, helpless, trying to control a the wave of pain that just came to him.

"Sorry, your body went through a lot in the past couple of months, this time I'm not taking it easy on you."

"Thanks," Hondo jumped into the conversation, wanting his young colleague to fully recover this time, before putting him back in the action. "That make two of us, then."

"Perfect," the doctor smiled at his patient's boss.

"Can I..." Street temporarily removed the mask again, "Can I at least... have some jelly? Please..." he closed his eyes, trying to mask another wave of pain that was hitting him.  
"The red one is my fave..." he forced himself to act normal beside how he was suffering.

"Maybe later, we'll see. You need to rest now," the doctor looked straight at him, then straight at Hondo, as to make sure he won't keep him awake too long after he had left the two of them alone in the room.  
"If you need more painkillers, here's the button, understood?" he put the thing in Street's right hand.

"Thank you..." Street nodded, laboriously swallowing, and immediately pressing the button.

"I'll leave him to you then," the doctor turned to Hondo, with a very serious tone, "Don't let him get tired, he needs to sleep."

"Count on me, he knows too well he has to obey my orders." Hondo nodded to him as the doctor got out of the room.

"You heard that?" Hondo turned to Street. "Get some sleep, you will need to be well rested when the rest of the crew comes to visit."

"Yeah..." Street whispered, as the painkillers started to work.  
"My family is coming here..." he softly drifted away again.

Hondo smiled, observing him falling asleep, proud that he finally called them his family.

 **...**

"So, the doctor said he will be good, right? Like he won't have any long term consequence?" Luca's voice reached Street in his drowsiness.

"Yeah, man," Street now recognized Hondo's voice.  
"It will take a while, but he will be as good as new."

"Physically maybe, but mentally?" Chris added, giving a voice to everyone's concern.  
"You really think he will put all this aside, and come back to work as nothing happened?"

"She's right," Luca added, "I saw how he was when he left the hospital the last time, and..."

Street listened to all those talking, without however having the strengths to open his eyes, and talk back.

"I feel you guys, and it won't be easy for him, no doubt," Hondo said, "But he is strong, he well demonstrated that, and I have a good feeling. We have to believe in him."

'Believe in me?' Street thought, starting to take back control on his mind.

"Of course we do." Chris said, still worried for her friend's state.  
"It's just... I don't know how to help him now."

"You just be there," Deacon said, "Even if he says he doesn't need us, be there for him anyway. That's how we'll do that."

'They believe in me...' Street started emerging from his sleep. 'And they are choosing to be with me...'

"Wait, guys," Tan interrupted his teammates, "I think he's awakening."

The Swat family stopped talking immediately, and assembled around Street's bed.

When he finally opened his eyes, Street found all his teammates there, silently observing him.

"Hey..." he whispered, looking at all those still concerned faces. "Why are you all staring at me? Do I have something on my face?" He tried to joke around, but still maintaining a straight tone.

"No," Chris slightly chuckled, "You always have the usual stupid expression." She said, shaking her head with a giant smile on her face, and making all the others laugh.

"Yeah," Street started vaguely laughing too.  
"Ouch..." he then started coughing, feeling like he was stabbed in his stomach, again and again.

All his friends instantaneously jumped toward him, concerned by his whines.

"Hey, slow down... slow down." Hondo immediately intervened.

"What do you need?" Luca jumped in, whiteout thinking a single second. "Some water?"

"No. I'm..." Street laboriously swallowed, "I'm fine..."

"You sure?" Tan asked, still worried.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." Chris hurried to apologize, approaching his bed, and trying to help him in some way.

"No..." Street was holding his breath.  
"I'm, I'm good..." he gradually took a deep breath now, "I'm good, thanks." He nodded to her, feeling all his teammate's looks on him.

Deacon and Hondo exchanged a worried look, then they turned their attention back on the young member of their squad.

Street closed his eyes for a moment, succeeding in restoring his cool.  
"Seriously guys?" He said reopening his eyes, finding all his friend's once again alarmed expressions in front of him.  
"I'm fine, you don't have to worry anymore."

"We will always worry about you!" Deacon said, "You are a real troublemaker, and you know that, right?"

"Yeah, I, um, I'm sorry..." he didn't know what to say more than that.

"Hey, bud," Luca changed the subject, trying to make the tensed atmosphere go away, "I can't wait to have you back home..."

"You mean to his home, right?" Tan interrupted him, rearing from all a good smile.

"Yeah, yeah..." Luca cut him short, "And since I heard you can't still eat solid yet," He turned back to Street, "that's the perfect excuse to make you my famous chicken soup, it's, it's delicious you will see."

"Since when you can cook?" Deacon raised his eyebrow.

"Don't want to disappoint you, but... uhm..." Street tried to hide his own discomfort remembering himself he was not going to go home very soon.

"Hey, you don't trust me?" Luca interrupted him before he could finish the sentence.

"Don't run Luca," Hondo intervened, noticing Street uneasy expression.

"Yeah, what the hell do you have in your mind?" Chris added, "Don't you understand he won't be able to leave the hospital still for a while?"

"Oh, yeah, I didn't considered that, I'm sorry man..."

"It's okay..." Street nervously smiled to him.  
"I... um..." he started babbling like a child that can't repeat his lesson straight.  
"I really need to, to thank you," he felt like if he didn't say it now, he would not say it at all.  
"You all..." he forced himself to look every one of his friend in the eyes, "You all being here for me... all this time... I..."

"Hey," Chris hurried back, putting her hand on his shoulder. "It's what family does! Right guys?" She turned to the others, waiting for approval.

"Yeah, you can say it," Luca immediately added.

"I'm ready to be part of it now... I want to..." Street muttered, a little embarrassed by the open heart conversation in front of everyone.

"What are you saying? You already are." Luca severally said, kindly punching him on the shoulder.

"I'm ready to do my part, I need to start doing my part..."

"Hey, you already started!" Hondo intervened. "And you did it even when no one expected you to. You were brave in there, we all notice that."

All the squad members nodded at him, smiling and with proud looks on their faces.

"I'm ready to come back now."

They all looked at him puzzled, glancing at the IV's, the monitors, and all the other things he was attached to.

"I mean, not _now_ , I'm clearly not _that_ ready, but..." he tried to explain himself.  
"I feel ready to jump back on the horse." He said in one breath. "I really am now."

"I'm sure you will be soon," Hondo said, with his most reassuring tone, "But in the meantime, let us take care of you, alright?"  
They all couldn't stop smiling at him, relieved he could finally let them be a part of his life, and glad he was going to be a part of theirs for a long, long time.

.

* * *

 _Author's note: This is the end!  
After this, Street will completely recover, and will go back to work.  
The swat family will be united as it never was, and they will continue to catch bad guys even better that they've ever done.  
Grace will be a constant part of Street life, consolidating their brother-sister relationship, and continuing to grow together._

 _ _Thank you all for reading and reviewing my story.  
I sincerely hope you enjoyed and appreciated it.  
See you next time.  
__


End file.
